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--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Shaping France’s new research landscape CNRS launched its new territorial strategy in 2012 with the signing of a first five-year site agreement with higher education and research institutions in the Aquitaine region. This new type of agreement, aimed at developing regional clusters with worldwide visibility, marks a decisive step in reshaping the French research landscape. Excellence Initiatives (Idex), Institutes of Excellence for Carbon- Free Energy (IEED), Technological Research Institutes (IRTs), and Technology Transfer Companies (SATTs)... Led by CNRS, the French scientific community as a whole is actively responding to calls for proposals for the national Investments for the Future Program (IA), whose budget totals €23 billion. CNRS is associated with 90% of the certified Laboratories of Excellence (Labex) at the national level. Applicant sites carefully assess their priorities, areas of competence, and core expertise. The research environment is changing rapidly: higher education and research institutions (EESR) have new responsibilities as well as increased autonomy for managing their scientific policies. “All these changes have a common goal: a coherent nationwide organization of regional scientific clusters of international caliber to attract the best students, teachers, and researchers,” says Joël Bertrand, Chief Research Officer. “To achieve this, we must break down the barriers between scientific disciplines by reasoning in terms of sites rather than individual organizations.” This trend is fully in line with the French government’s strategy to develop pooling and threshold effects. New contractual agreements... These new circumstances have led CNRS to reconsider contractual procedures with EESRs. The objective is to move from bilateral agreements with each organization – which was the rule until 2012 – to a site agreement bringing together all stakeholders in a given research area in order to develop a joint, coherent, and interdisciplinary scientific policy. Moreover, this strategy is consistent with CNRS’s vision of European and international research. “Pooling our resources does not mean CNRS is centered on the regions; our added value in this type of partnership comes from our international scope,” says Jean-Noël Verpeaux, Director of the Department for the Territorial Organization of Research (DASTR). “Our approach is scientifically and geographically rational and it increases every region’s visibility and attractiveness. It also prevents our resources from being spread too thinly.” On a regional level, the number and scope of forthcoming agreements often exceeds those of the Excellence Initiatives selected as part of the Investments for the Future (IA) program. While there are only eight Idex and two emerging centers of excellence, CNRS targets thirty similar agreements with its partners. Investments for the Future, Year 3 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- France’s Investments for the Future (IA) program contributes to the establishment of large, world-class sites for training, research, and innovation. It provides ten-year financing for ambitious, innovative multidisciplinary projects with long-lasting impact. Those selected in 2011 and 2012 strengthened the CNRS regional reorganization strategy and its partnerships with universities. Most of the projects singled out by international juries and financed as part of the IA (specifically Labex and Equipex) turned out to be located at sites where CNRS already has a strong presence. Beyond the organization’s involvement in Idex programs, this is evidence of the strong regional links between CNRS joint research units and higher education institutions. Another milestone in 2012 was the development of Ginkgo, a new tool for the management and monitoring of projects selected in the IA program. It is the first CNRS information system application developed using agile methodology, an iterative and incremental approach closely aligned with the needs of all those involved. Gingko is an adaptive tool seamlessly integrated into the existing information system. Its objectives are numerous: monitor the scientific and administrative implementation of IA programs; prepare consolidated reviews by site, topic, partner, regional office, or institute of all initiatives performed; and provide CNRS management with a monitoring and decisionsupport tool, in particular for implementing site policies. Ginkgo provides the necessary perspective for CNRS to make the best-informed, quickest and most effective decisions. 8 A year at CNRS 2012


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